A paramedic is a medical professional who provides pre-hospital medical care in the field mostly in terms of emergencies. They assess the patient’s conditions and then administer the essential treatment. In other words, a health care provider with good understanding of physiology, pathophysiology, and pharmacology and who carries the work of a physician is a paramedic. They are supposed to examine, evaluate and treat patients in emergency situations.
Their role is to assist physicians by augmenting the critical care capabilities of the emergency department and intensive care units. They are the first healthcare professionals on the scene of any accident or medical emergency where they play a critical role. The paramedics perform several roles. Firstly, paramedics drive a mobile emergency clinic where they resuscitate and stabilize patients using modern techniques, drugs and sophisticated equipments. Secondly, they participate in community education and other health promotion programmes.
When patients have undergone trauma due to the effects of their illness or accidents, they help them to cope with their new conditions through counselling and encouragement. Additionally, due to their high confidence and more skills, they are able to control and manage accident scenery by restoring calmness and order. Lastly, they provide transport facilities for patients to hospitals or from one hospital to another in case of a serious condition requiring critical medical attention.
Paramedics are considered as the current knights and nobles in view of the fact that they are always doing something or waiting to do something all the time in the whole world. They are highly honoured in the community and mostly called in homes to handle emergencies like collapse of an elderly due to scaffolding or heart attacks. This development of paramedics has come at a crucial point thus covering the gap between people in their normal setting and the hospital where there is high level of care taking place.
In the past, doctors were not working outside the hospital environment. However, these days the paramedics are all over the community and their being reflects the worth full of people in this society. Paramedic has greatly changed over time due to their high demand especially in areas where there are few doctors and nurses. In addition, apart from working in hospitals alone, they are also found alongside police and fire brigades where they are to administer emergency care to patients in the field.
Technology and medicine in the work of paramedics have changed a great deal. They perform endotracheal intubations and modern medicine has helped in dealing with cases like heart attack, breathing difficulties etc. The increased usage of ambulances by hospitals has led to paramedics spending much time with patients and this is attributed to specialization of hospitals making ambulances to keep on transporting patients to other hospitals. In order to efficiently deal with the community, the paramedics posses good interpersonal and communication skills.
In a nut shell, the works of paramedics has helped in improving the quality of life by reducing the risk of injury in the fields. They are employed as part of the National Health Service Trust System and it’s a self regulating health profession. They perform critical roles in helping to save people’s lives prior to their hospitalization. Furthermore, they are not only found in the fields but also in hospitals where they deal with emergencies. The power allotted to them of being able to administer treatment goes a long way in managing emergency cases prior to their admission in hospitals.